Kristi Getschel named high individual.

The Central National FFA Judging Contest drew the largest field of participants of all judging events at World Dairy Expo. One hundred eighteen teams from seven states including Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Missouri, and California judged on Tuesday morning. There were so many students, the contest was held in two heats.

The high schools students evaluated four classes of dairy cattle and answered a few questions on the classes. Those TAQs, as they are called, include inquiries asking which cow was the best uddered, which had the weakest pasterns, and so forth. For this contest, TAQs are a substitute for oral reasons.

The overall high individual was Kristi Getschel of Osceola FFA in Northwest Wisconsin. She is a junior at Osceola High School and scored 203 points.

It was a tight contest at the top. Just two points behind Getschel was Logan Vandehei of West DePere. He had a three-point advantage over Cole Kudrna of Milton FFA. Ethan Koopmans of Beaver Dam FFA trailed by two more points, and Jeremy Schlies of Denmark FFA was a mere one point behind at 195.

Following the contest, FFA members took in the dairy shows, walked through the trade show, and visited with other FFA members from across the Midwest.

The University of Wisconsin-Platteville organizes the Central National FFA Judging Contest at World Dairy Expo. Full results can be found here.

Patti Hurtgen

The author is the online media manager and is responsible for the website, webinars, and social media. A graduate of Modesto Junior College and Fresno State, she was raised on a California dairy and frequently blogs on youth programs and consumer issues.